


when you look at me like that (i just can't breathe)

by notcaycepollard



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, boy you really got me, goof, idk this was just stupid fun, maria hill is also a pop star in canada, uh oh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 19:37:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4889542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notcaycepollard/pseuds/notcaycepollard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The plan is for Skye and I to go in to start with, as a two-person undercover op. The rest of you will provide back-up when necessary." Coulson smirks, and why is he smirking, Skye thinks suspiciously. "The victims all have one thing in common. They're C-pop stars."</p><p>"Oh no," Skye says. "Coulson, no."</p><p>"Skye, yes," he tells her, and he's definitely holding back a grin. "Congratulations, Daisy Wang, you're our newest pop idol."</p>
            </blockquote>





	when you look at me like that (i just can't breathe)

Skye can't work out whether this mission is the worst thing or _the best thing_.

It starts out fine enough; Coulson calls them into the briefing room of the new Quinjet, lays out what he knows. 

"People are showing up dead in Beijing," he tells them. Hunter frowns.

"And that's our problem why? Are these new Inhumans being experimented on? HYDRA or someone else?"

"Neither," Coulson says, "the opposite, actually. All the victims died from ultrasonic wave shock."

"Vibroacoustic stimulation?" Simmons asks. "Yes, that could cause cardiovascular issues and damage to the central nervous system, at high levels of exposure. A weapon, then?"

"A person," Coulson replies. "An Inhuman or someone else with powers. Someone who should be on the Index, and isn't. We're dealing with a gifted serial killer. The plan is we investigate, to start with, see if we can ID the killer without causing alarm."

"So the victims aren't random?"

"No," Coulson agrees, "they're not. The plan is for Skye and I to go in to start with, as a two-person undercover op. The rest of you will provide back-up when necessary." He smirks, and  _why is he smirking_ , Skye thinks suspiciously. "The victims all have one thing in common. They're C-pop stars."

"Oh no," Skye says. "Coulson, no."

"Skye, yes," he tells her, and he's definitely holding back a grin. "Congratulations, Daisy Wang, you're our newest pop idol."

 

+

 

Skye's been teaching herself Mandarin for a while now, and she's a quick learner, so it's not actually as stupid an idea as she first thinks. Then Bobbi and Jemma and Fitz corner her, all of them looking so gleeful Skye  _knows_ something is up.

"We're making you a music video," Fitz tells her, and nope, Skye's changed her mind again, this is exactly as stupid an idea as she first thought.

"I don't  _sing_ ," she protests. "I don't  _dance_. I'm not making a damn music video!"

"You need a cover story," Bobbi reminds her. "New pop idol, trying to break into the industry, you'll be more believable with at least one song recorded and a small but dedicated fanbase. I've done it when I needed a cover in Japan, it's not that bad."

It's exactly that bad. Skye tugs at her tiny, tight shorts-jumpsuit-halterneck thing, trying vainly to get a little more coverage. "Stop  _fiddling_ , you look fine," Jemma chides her, and Skye blushes.

"Does Coulson know about this," she asks flatly, "because I really feel that this is not an appropriate use of SHIELD resources."

"Who do you think wrote the song?" Fitz says, and  _oh_ , that's great. Skye's going to tease him with that _forever_. She's going to quote these lyrics at him at six in the morning for the rest of her life.

They record the video, and Skye has no idea where these outfits came from, but she shoves them into her bag when they're done, because hey, she's going undercover, she might need skimpy pop star stuff, right? Right. (She kind of likes this minidress, actually. Secretly. The headband, not so much.) Fitz promises he'll work some magic with her voice, make it sound a little more polished, but Skye's still pretty sure she's never going to watch it or listen to it, ever.

Of course the team plays it in the briefing room once it's done, evaluates her performance out of ten, and Skye hates this mission  _so much_ , because she's pretty sure she's never going to get this stupid song out of her head.

 

+

 

They're running the op from a semi-decent hotel near the recording studio of the label all the victims were signed to, and Skye has her own room, so she takes her time getting ready, applies more eyeliner and lip gloss than she'd usually use in a month, considers her reflection critically. There's a knock at her door and she sighs in relief, answers it and lets Coulson in.

"Ready to go?" he asks her, and she nods, grabs her clutch. Coulson looks a little taken aback. "What are you wearing?" he asks warily, and she brushes back her hair, pouts at him a little.

"You don't like sexy pop star Daisy Wang?" she asks, and Coulson drags his gaze down her body much more slowly than usual. She's in tight, high-waist, faded jeans that look painted on, a cropped t-shirt, stupidly high heels, and Bobbi's put blonde highlights through her hair. Coulson swallows, looking weirdly conflicted.

"Well," he agrees, "you're sure doing sexy pop star, I guess."

"You think I'm  _sexy_ ," she teases him, and Coulson honest to god blushes. Skye leans in until she can whisper into his ear. "Make me wanna misbehave," she murmurs, and he chokes back an outraged noise.

"Daisy Wang doesn't flirt with her manager," he tells her flatly, and Skye shrugs.

"I dunno, sir. Her manager thinks she's sexy."

"Hmm," Coulson replies, schools his face into expressionless. "Come on, we should go," and presses metal fingers against the bare skin above the waistband of her jeans. Skye shivers.

 

+

 

"So," he asks her two days later. It's late at night, and they're back at the hotel, hanging out in her room. Skye's changed into sweats, sitting cross-legged on her bed, and she never wants to see a pair of high heels again. Coulson pulls out the plastic bag of takeout, passes her a styrofoam container of dumplings. "Any theories?"

"Yeah," Skye says, cracking apart her chopsticks and shoving the first dumpling into her mouth. "Oh  _god_ that's good. I'm so hungry. Apparently pop stars don't get to eat."

"At least they signed you," he tells her, and she grins.

"Come on, Phil," she says lightly. "Of course they were going to sign Daisy. I'm gonna be a sensation." Coulson rolls his eyes, steals a dumpling off her, and Skye pokes his thigh indignantly, steals his carton of _dan dan_ noodles in revenge. "Did you get any  _bao_?" she asks when he takes them back, because noodles are good but steam buns are better.

"Yeah, in the bag," he says, "pass me a beer, would you?" so Skye grabs them both a bottle of Tsingtao and the container of fluffy barbecue pork buns.

"This is pretty great," she sighs in satisfaction, takes a long sip of her beer. Coulson laughs.

"Well, I'm glad you're having fun, but we're supposed to be doing ops talk, here."

"Yeah," Skye concedes, "yeah, I guess. Okay, so." She crosses her legs again, leans forward, washes down her mouthful with another sip of beer. "There's this one singer. Jessi Fan? She's apparently the queen bee of the label. Got some  _major_ death stare when I ran into her in the recording studio. But more than that, when I  _heard_ her recording, I dunno, there was something about the frequency of her voice that made all my vibrations feel strange under my skin. It's just a hunch, but I think we should investigate."

"Sounds good," Coulson agrees. "You want any more noodles?"

"Hell yeah," Skye says, and he passes her the carton, swallows the last of his beer. 

"I'm going to have another," he tells her, "you in?"

"Sure, why not," Skye nods, and they wind up sitting side by side against her bed's crappy vinyl headboard, drinking beer and watching Chinese soap dramas, Skye doing her best to translate what's going on even though she can only catch about forty percent of the storyline. Coulson's warm against her side, his vibrations gentle and relaxed and amused. She's having a great time.

She finishes her second beer, rests her head on his shoulder, stops paying attention to the television. "What's happening?" Coulson asks, gesturing to the screen, and Skye sighs.

"I don't know," she admits, grins. "I can't concentrate. While you're messing with my brain."

" _Skye_ ," Coulson groans, and she moves in a little closer.

"I don't know what I'm doing," she sings, and he smirks.

"But you know where this is going?"

"Uh oh," Skye agrees, and presses her knee against his. She's thinking about climbing into his lap. It's probably the beer. And the music. And the hotel room. Coulson seems to figure it out, pulls carefully away.

"I should, uh, let you go to sleep," he says. "We'll look into Jessi Fan tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," she says, stands up and helps him clean up their dinner mess, sees him out.

 _Falling for you baby_ , she thinks as she's brushing her teeth, and  _uh oh_ , for real.

 

+

 

Skye's hunch about Jessi Fan turns out to be one hundred percent correct, which she would feel a lot happier about corroborating if it weren't for the fact that Jessi is currently trying to kill her. She tries to reach Coulson on comms, fails, swears under her breath and dials his cellphone instead. 

"Daisy?" he asks when he picks up. "You know I'm in meetings with the label producers, what is it?"

" _Jessi Fan_ ," Skye hisses. "I need my gauntlets, Coulson, at the very least.  _Real fast_. I'm hiding in a bathroom here, okay, Coulson,  _hurry_."

"Shit," he mutters, hangs up, gets to her hiding spot so fast she'd wonder how he managed it if it weren't for the fact that he's breathing harder than she's ever seen. She slides the gauntlets on, sighing in relief as she feels her powers intensify.

"Stay behind me," she tells him, "and if you see Jessi,  _block your ears_." She kicks off her stupid platform heels, because barefoot is better than breaking an ankle, and takes point, begins to clear the hallway just as May trained her.

They find Jessi in the next hallway, and she opens her mouth to scream. Skye flings power at her, knocks the air out of her lungs before she can breathe a note, and the other girl staggers backward. They don't have any icers, which is incredibly poor planning, so Skye rushes her, throws a punch hard enough to knock her out, and the girl crumples to the ground.

"What..." Coulson says, staring down at her. She has pastel pink hair, a glittery dress, and Skye's never seen someone less threatening.

"Don't trust appearances," Skye tells him, and Jessi stirs, opens her mouth and shrieks. The noise jitters across Skye's skin unpleasantly, jarring her sense of vibrations. Coulson collapses, and Skye rolls her eyes, hits Jessi again, and this time she manages to wrap Coulson's tie around Jessi's mouth as a makeshift gag before either Jessi or Coulson wake up again.

 

+

 

"Seriously,  _what_ ," Coulson asks when he comes to, and Skye shrugs, helps him up.

"She has some kind of sonic scream power. Like a banshee, I guess?"

"A banshee," Coulson says flatly. "A  _banshee_."

"Hey, don't ask me. My guess is Inhuman, not enhanced. I think that's why it didn't work so well on me. The real question is what we're going to do with her."

They leave her gagged, in the end, put her in the vibranium cell in the Quinjet, wait for her to wake up. Skye grabs a tablet and pulls up a text-to-voice program, hands Jessi the computer.

"If you try taking that gag off, I'll shoot you," she tells her, and yeah, she's being a bit harsher than usual, but this girl did try to kill her, so fair's fair. She'd only shoot her with an  _icer_.

"Where am I," Jessi taps out, and Coulson crosses his arms.

"Safe," Skye says. "For you, and for the rest of us. Why'd you kill those other singers?"

"They tried to take my place," Jessi replies, in the flat monotone of a computer-generated voice. "I'm the best. They couldn't challenge me. I was going to be a star."

"You could have been a superhero," Skye says. "You could use your power to fight. To battle evil." Jessi looks genuinely confused.

"Why would I want to be a superhero when I could be a superstar," she answers, and Skye can only shrug again, because why would you want to be a superstar when you could be a  _superhero_ , she thinks.

 

+

 

"I don't know what to do with her," she tells Coulson when they're done with the interrogation, and he frowns.

"We don't have a Sandbox or Fridge anymore. Maybe Fitzsimmons could come up with some kind of collar to block her powers. I know Fitz still has the plans for that Asgardian one Sif used on Lorelai. You don't want to offer her a place on the team? The  _other_ team, I mean?" he clarifies, giving her a meaningful look. Skye shakes her head.

"You heard her. She doesn't want to be a superhero. The collar sounds like a good idea, and then I guess we could hand her over to the authorities? She did murder four people."

"Yeah," Coulson agrees. "Ugh, my ears are still ringing. A  _banshee_."

"Our job is diverse and interesting," Skye tells him. "Feel dizzy? Does it make you feel  _delirious_?"

"You're never going to let that song go, are you," Coulson sighs, and Skye grins.

"I had to film a music video for this mission, Director. I am  _never_ going to let that song go."

 

+

 

It's late that night, and Skye is unpacking, and she finds the minidress she liked. She doesn't think too much about it, slips it on, and Jesus, it's  _so_ short and tight, and  _wet-look_ , how did Bobbi ever convince her it was a good idea, but also, maybe it's the best idea. She goes to Coulson's office, because she wants to see his face, and when she reaches his door, she hears a very familiar song playing.

She peeks in the door, is rewarded with Coulson at his desk quietly mouthing along. "Busted," she tells him, sauntering in, "you are  _so_ busted, you love it, don't deny." He looks up, blinks, blinks again, runs his tongue over his lower lip. 

"Skye,  _what_ ," he asks, sounding hoarse, and she puts her hand on her hip, strikes a pose, and then slides into the stupid choreography of the song.

"I can hear my heart go, racing out of control," she sings, rolling her hips and holding eye contact. "It's so crazy, boy you really got me, _uh oh_." Coulson looks like he can't look away, and it makes Skye brave, brave in a different way than usual. "You like it, don't you."

"Sexy pop star Daisy Wang? Oh sure."

"No," Skye says. "Sexy pop star Skye. You _like_ it."

"No," Coulson replies, stands up and walks over to join her. "I don't care about sexy pop star Skye."

"Really?" Skye asks, stepping closer. "I can feel your vibrations, Director, you sure like something in this room, and I'm pretty sure it's the dress."

"That is not a dress," Coulson tells her. "That is  _way_ too short to be a dress."

"What do you like, then," Skye teases, because Coulson's still looking at her like he wants to eat her or kiss her, she's not sure which. Maybe both.

"I like Skye the superhero," Coulson breathes, leaning in until his mouth is close to hers. She's in her stupid platform heels; they're the same height. It makes it easy for Skye to close the distance, press her mouth against his, and when Coulson kisses back, grabs her, presses her up against the door, it's too, too easy to wrap her legs around his waist.

This mission is so definitely the best thing, Skye decides, as Coulson licks down her throat with a moan. Even though she's pretty sure everyone on the team has now set that song as their ring tone.

**Author's Note:**

> idk even
> 
> "uh oh" is a thing of beauty especially with that damn minidress
> 
> follow me on tumblr if you want: notcaycepollard.tumblr.com


End file.
